An overwhelming majority of Americans say President Trump should allow special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe to continue, but fewer believe Congress should pass a law to protect the investigation, according to a poll released Tuesday.

A new CBS News poll found that roughly 72 percent of respondents said Mr. Trump should not end the special counsel investigation.

Roughly 72 percent of respondents said Mr. Trump should not end the investigation. But support for the Mueller probe largely follows party lines. About 57 percent of Republican respondents said the investigation should continue, compared to 81 percent of Democrat respondents and 76 percent of independents.

When it comes to Congressional legislation designed to protect Mr. Mueller, support dwindled among respondents. Overall, 52 percent of those polled supported the idea. But only 23 percent of Republican respondents were on board with the idea. The poll found that 75 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independents wanted legislation to prevent Mr. Mueller from being fired.

The poll also found that 51 percent believe the Mueller investigation is politically motivated compared to 46 percent saying it is justified.

Only 13 percent of Republicans said the probe was justified with 83 percent calling it politically motivated. In contrast, 23 percent of Democrats called the probe politically motivated, with 74 percent saying it is justified. Independents were more evenly split with 44 percent saying it is justified and 52 percent calling it politically motivated.

CBS News said it contacted 1,103 adults across the country by telephone and the poll as a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points